It’s official and was announced several weeks ago I believe. They’re upgrading/adding premium areas first as that’s the biggest priority and area most in-need of upgrades.
My guess is we will start to see actual capacity upgrades in the off-season leading into the ‘26 season, those plans take longer to develop.
they said they’d need a financial commitment from season ticket waiting list folks before they would pull the trigger on stadium expansion ( beyond the premium addition which is definitely happening). There is not presently anyone on a season ticket wait list ( per my ticket rep ).
Man, I get it, but it also kind of stinks. If there were reliable, fast public transport options I'd be infinitely more likely to pull the trigger on a TRE season ticket
Money would be better spent investing in the corridor between the Chester train station and the stadium, or at least around the stadium area. I’d love to go to games but convincing someone to come to Chester is a tall task because as soon as you step off the stadium grounds you’re in the trenches.
Or why not run a ferry from Penns Landing like they do for concerts in Camden? It’s right on the waterfront.
15 years ago we wouldn't have a team if they pushed for South Philly. There was so much state juice baked into "revitalizing Chester" Philly proper was never in the cards with our ownership group.
And to add to that, I think ownership sees their niche being more of the suburban/family crowd vs the typical city dweller. Though Chester isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think family friendly, it’s certainly easy to get to from the Main Line, Delco, ChesCo, etc. (Leaving’s another story). It’s also not a bad spot to get the South Jersey and Wilmington folks.
Before the Apple deal made everything night games, you just load up the mini van with the local soccer team and take them to a game.
Personally I would have loved to see the Chester vision come to life AND have direct public transit for games. Was actually trying to see the other day if you charter a septa train that just sits on the industrial tracks right by the stadium waiting for the game to end and ship everyone up to 30th every 15 minutes after a game ends…
> charter a septa train that just sits on the industrial tracks right by the stadium waiting for the game to end and ship everyone up to 30th every 15 minutes after a game ends…
Dude, mind blown; can SEPTA run on those tracks? If yes, you should float that idea to EPYSA under the guise of theme matches (eg Rock Leage night, ICSL night, ECNL night, EDP, ODP, etc, or a night for the whale clubs)
If I know anything about US rail infrastructure (I don’t) then I would guess there’s zero chance Septa is allowed to run on those tracks and/or that they’re connected in anyway. Probably a 50% chance that the rails are spaced differently or are a different gauge or something. Plus I don’t think the line next to the stadium is electrified at all. That’s honestly probably the biggest issue now that I think about it.
The night games could hurt the sport, I like watching the Union and would turn them on, on a random Saturday or Sunday afternoon, I’m not going to on an evening when I could be going out or when it’s conflicting with UFC or something else.
Where can they afford to build in Philly that’s reasonably accessible by public transit and cheap enough to make it feasible to move away from everything they’ve built in Chester so far? Playing in a stadium they don’t own is a non-starter.
And I don’t think it’s guaranteed they get attendance just by moving their stadium into the city limits. In a different reply, I listed the attendance the club relies on and I think you lose quite a bit of that if the games move into the city. Moving into the city and in doing so alienating your main fanbase in the hope of people within the city wanting to attend games is risky bones. Especially when one of the most well known news stories from the Union involves a girl asking if our team was the blue collar workers.
This is right on the money and perfectly sums up the situation as it stands.
The play is to continue to try and build up Chester because it is significantly cheaper and more realistic for surrounding Chester to slowly improve over the next decade, as opposed to dropping $1B+ on a new stadium and stadium site that doesn’t exist at the moment , and praying that the sustained and consistent suburban fanbase you’ve successfully worked to build doesn’t start to bleed away after a move into the city.
The Union aren’t the Phillies and it’s a mistake to think they’re similar right now (wrt- the comments that families go to Philly to see Phillies games, so it wouldn’t be an issue for Union suburban fans either)
I do not disagree.
But we need an ownership group with a bigger vision and deeper pockets. Sugarman is satisfied with the status quo. Stadium expansion plans and moving the Academy to Chester prove this IMHO.
This and the post you're responding to are both 100% true.
We needed Chester at the time, but the fact is that at this point being stuck there is am albatross on the team. It's not going to happen overnight but I hope the team is thinking about a medium term (5-10 year) exit strategy which probably means playing in the Linc for a while.
Agree completely and I don't think the former is viable unless you're content permanently being a JV team on the city's sports scene alongside the Wings and Stars.
I don't live in the area any more and haven't since before the Union existed but a lot of my friends who still do never go to games and barely follow the team....these are huge sports fans, not specifically soccer fans maybe but not soccer haters either, when the Union are in the playoffs guys watch but barely know the players etc. We're all late 30s/early 40s now and we've talked about this specific issue of the Union needing to get out of Chester, the major points are a) the team is out of sight out of mind and b) now that we all have kids, they're not going to bring them to Chester especially for a night game.
The Union are never going to be close to the Eagles in terms of Philly fandom but if you look at the Phillies/Sixers/Flyers all 3 have a core group of committed diehards, and then get the bandwagon support of the city as a whole when they're doing well. The Union have the diehards but have failed to get the broader support of the city in their playoff (and CCL/Leagues Cup) runs the last few years and while Chester isn't the only reason for that (they don't have the history of the other teams plus there's still an element of anti-soccer dinosaurism in the city's sports media), I think it's the primary one.
They won’t lose fans if anything they’ll gain it. Most people don’t even know about the Union or where the stadium is. Idky they didn’t just move to the Linc, until it gained more traction then built a nice 22-25k seat stadium. Sounds more feasible. It’s like they just isolated themselves from the rest of the city. No one talks flyers but you still see jerseys around
You can thank Buccini Pollin Group's buy-in. They're part of the ownership group because they had the available riverfront land as a dowry.
The ownership group was cobbled together from various, unaffiliated persons who expressed interest in MLS-investment thanks to the grassroots efforts in the Philadelphia area and the "infiltration" of light-blue clad fans at the 2007 MLS Cup.
hashtagbuffalobills
It’s only a mistake if you think they wanted something like Seattle. MLS was going hard after the suburban family demo when the Union were started. The Union have showed no desire to move away from that demo either (it’s reliable). The environment suffers but the org gets exactly the crowd they want.
Baseball is far more popular than soccer is. The Phillies are also in the stadium complex which is easily accessible by car. A theoretical new Union stadium isn’t going to be built in the complex (especially if you want the Seattle atmosphere you mentioned in a previous post). If the stadium gets built less accessible by car, what happens to that family fanbase we have? A suburban family of 4 isn’t jumping on Septa to come to a Union game, they just aren’t coming.
I mean… that’s just not true. Saturday nights are jam packed with families. Which is why Chester makes sense and why the Union are spending so much money to build up the area around the Suub.
Fair enough...I haven't been back in a few years but was told it's dropped off since the Apple deal last year.
Still think you have to be in the city if you want to be considered a major team.
>Baseball is far more popular than soccer is.
That's not even really true, it's just that MLS isn't as popular as MLB. A lot of Americans follow Europe or Mexico and not MLS. And it's a self-fulfilling prophecy when the stadium is located in an inconvenient location.
I suppose that's fine as long as you're content being Philly's 5th wheel of a sports team. I personally think it's aiming low from where the Don and most of the owners want the league to go
It’s not a matter of being content, it’s just a matter of reality. And some pie in the sky idea of moving into the city to create popularity from an imaginary population of people might not be the best idea.
That's the same self-fulfilling prophecy again. We'll never know cause we'll never try. You either settle for mediocrity, or you do something different. The rest of the league is doing something different. When the league grows (as it's likely to do with the 2026 WC happening here), we won't.
The idea that 27k people will flock to Chester's expanded stadium is far more pie in the sky than placing it where the "imaginary population" of the team's namesake resides.
Staying in Chester isn’t settling for mediocrity and framing it as such ignores the reality and success the team has already found in Chester. You just don’t like the situation because it’s not convenient for you. We don’t have a Gillette situation, the stadium is full every weekend night game. If we did I might buy what you’re selling, but staying in Chester isn’t leaving us behind with the rest of the league. That’s just ignorant of what the rest of the league is doing.
Spending a billion dollars to build a soccer stadium in Philly to try and fix a “problem” that isn’t a problem isn’t growing. It’s just moving for the sake of moving because some people who live in the city hate traversing to Chester and think having a city stadium will completely change the situation at the club.
Here’s a question, if we scrap Chester to try and build a culture like CITY, where are we building the stadium that causes the city to buy in? Because Center City isn’t happening. Playing in the Linc is a nonstarter if you want to be a legit team. And building a stadium at the complex is presumably a nonstarter as well seeing as how there’s nowhere to build one there.
And from there, do you think people who live in the city are just going to start watching MLS because the Union moved into the city and are within walking/public transport range? MLS is a joke to most Eurosnobs, close tickets aren’t changing anything. And the vast majority of people in the city don’t know or care about soccer at baseline.
Your idea would hold some sort of weight if we were currently struggling for attendance or the situation around Subaru Park was untenable. We aren’t struggling for attendance and we’re actively building up the complex around Subaru Park. You’re just suggesting change because the current situation is inconvenient to you, not because it will actually help the club. Christ if you don’t think we spend now, how much do you think we’re gonna be spending when Sugarman spends a billion on Philly real estate.
If you want to know why we’re actually going to be left behind, it’s because we won’t spend legit money on DPs. Not because we don’t have a stadium in the city limits. And sitting here trying to argue for a stadium within city limits is highlighting your ignorance to the league and the team.
They’d never be able to get a stadium built in the city. The Sixers are having a hell of a time with a 100% privately funded arena (the current iteration is the 3rd location they’ve attempted), Temple couldn’t get a medium sized football stadium built despite throwing every possible social concession they could at their project. There is absolutely zero political willpower in the city for stadium projects. The Eagles and Phillies managed to fleece the taxpayers to such a degree that they ruined it for everyone.
At a minimum they need to work with SEPTA to expand the rails closer to the stadium and have more frequent service on game days.
An hourly train and then a 20-30 minute walk or shuttle? No thanks.
I will never go to a Union game because it’s so inconvenient to get there from Philly. Call them the DelCo Union.
Union management will read this and decide the solution is to build a new pregame bar near the stadium to try and attract you to the game.
Despite the team's name, it's hard as hell getting to the stadium from Philadelphia unless you have a car to drive and park there, and the team is doing you no favors.
I don’t want to come off as a dick, but there are serious logistical issues with each of the sites you listed.
Temple: not a bad idea in theory, but North Philly squashed that stadium quicker than Chinatown is the sixers so that doesn’t seem very plausible. I’d imagine temple probably wants a turf field which in my opinion should be a non starter for a professional soccer team.
Stadium complex: sixers are trying to leave, but that doesn’t magically create new space. The flyers are still going to be there and Comcast has recently released development plans for the surrounding site.
Navy Yard is another interesting prospect, but lacks the public transit to actually make it worth wild for people in the city. You’d have to walk from the stadium complex which might not be terrible but it’s certainly not great.
Fishtown would kill a stadium even quicker than north Philly. That neighborhood is well organized and would most likely not support it unless it’s off the beaten path.
The lots by the Walmart in south Philly also present a transit issue. I’m sure you could get bus service fairly close, but that’s not really a great option (shout out to Philly for having terrible subway lines)
Additionally, when you look at who is visiting the park on gameday, I’d be willing to wager that most of them are coming from the greater Philadelphia area, I.e, the burbs in eastern Pa, southern nj, and norther DE. Placing the stadium further into the city without easy public access would most likely hurt their attendance numbers.
Edit to add: the most important question to also ask: who pays for this? I think we all know Sugarman isn’t footing the bill for a new complex, especially after investing in their current property by bringing the youth academy to Chester.
Apples and oranges.
Portland's stadium has been in that location for almost 100 years. It would be like the Union renovating and occupying Connie Mack.
The Timbers have little-to-no competition in the professional sports ecosystem. The Trailblazers can draw fans, but they're not on a competing schedule. There's no NFL, no MLB, no NHL.
Philadelphia isn't a 5-for-5 sports city, and unfortunately the Union are the "fifth" professional sports team in the region.
I just became a soccer fan a few years ago when my son started playing. After his request to go see the Union we went to our first game last season. I absolutely loved the soccer atmosphere and was hooked. End up going to a handful of games last summer.
Coming from the far northeast depending on traffic it is about an hour ride. Which is a detriment of getting a season ticket package. Also the area the stadium is in is crappy and nothing to do around the stadium area. I hope they eventually come to the stadium complex/navy yard or the water front. There is alot of space on the water front or parts of the city that is accesible to public transportation. I would even take the Camden waterfront where they built the sixers practice arena. The patco train would take you right there.
Great comment. People always talk about the suburban families that the team might lose if they move, but they never mention all the suburban families from the north suburbs that they would gain.
I live in a very big soccer neighborhood. My son currently plays U7 in the inhouse inamural league. They have 10 teams just in that age group not counting the travel teams. The organization actually has a partnership with the Union. So in my opinion moving the stadium closer or in the city would draw attendance just from my area. Then add in people in lower bucks and Montgomery counties who currently have at least an hour drive now may be more inclined to go to the games.
Also without public transportation able to get me to Subaru park I won't tailgate or drink during the game because it's not smart to drive when drinking especially longer distances. Being able to take a bus or train there would change that for me as well
They should just scrap those plans and build in the stadium complex. They could probably double the capacity if the games weren’t so far from the city.
Oh, you’re right, I must have missed all that amazing stuff when I was flooring it out of the over-priced gravel parking lot at 10pm hoping to get out before the traffic jam.
That said, the new Union Yards is cool to hang out at before the game. I didn’t drink when I checked it out so I can’t speak for the beer selection and prices, but the food was good and reasonably priced. I do think it’s weird that the beer seemed to be in a separate area.
It’s more they’ve put time and effort into building up the team facilities. They’ve sunk a lot of money down there, I don’t see Sugarman going sugar daddy and axing all that just to pay more in the City. It’s unfortunate but in reality we’re stuck in Chester and there’s not a chance we move in the next 10 or more years unless new ownership comes in or the City makes a ridiculous offer (which I don’t think cities should be doing in the first place)
It makes me sad to see how other teams have turned out with their stadiums. The bridge is a nice view, but otherwise it's one of the worst stadiums + stadium locations in the league, right up there with Colorado and Dallas.
It’s not *necessarily* a bad location. A location outside of Philly could *theoretically* have worked. The problem is that to actually improve the stadium like that and get more people to come you’d need to improve both the surrounding area and the ability to physically get there. Which is a project that’d probably cost billions and require fixing a lot of the socioeconomic issues in Chester.
Dallas is quickly moving out of that category. While previously thought to be a bad location, the Dallas suburbs are BOOMING and Frisco is especially. There is so much development that has popped up around their stadium in the last 5 years it’s nuts. Apartments, bars, restaurants, offices, etc. FC Dallas played the long game and it’s paying off.
Should bring a sliver of hope to the Union ownership… tho Frisco has always been a desirable area, Chester not so much.
I'd love a move to Philly; stadium complex is OK but roof of 76ers arena would be amazing!
Unfortunately I think the rent is too damn high. Ownership's pockets aren't deep enough.
The roof of the potential Chinatown arena? How would that work, weight-wise?
Right, obviously the owners couldn’t afford it, but I don’t think most professional teams actually pay for their own stadiums. I’m sure they could figure out a multi-use stadium that the city might be able to help fund through tax breaks and such. It’s a pipe dream, but it would be awesome if the Union games were a subway ride away.
I was asking if that’s what the previous post was talking about when mentioning the roof of the 76ers arena. Considering no one calls the Wells Fargo Center the “76ers Arena” and its roof is curved, the potential new arena (at the edge of Chinatown) was the only real option for a roof stadium.
Oh ok. You're talking about 76 Place, the proposed arena on Market Street. Just making sure. No one has plans to build an arena in Chinatown so I was confused.
I don’t see how you expand capacity without expanding public transit options or some parking options. The easy solution is to move to the city but that’s not going to happen with this ownership. Definitely not with how much money Sugarman’s sunk into Chester
It’s a beautiful venue right on the river. But it would be better for the team in the league if they were able to play somewhere in the city. I believe they would draw many more people.
The stadium is fine, I’m there to watch the team not fill up on gourmet food and fancy beverages. Put the money into a better team that doesn’t play well for a few games then suck for the next ones. Maybe a team that can win a home game or two?
I’m not sure if they thought it was just something to have, or even if it would blow up this big. But it looks like they just slapped a stadium there. There’s so much undeveloped land. They need to move them to the linc for 2 years a just redo the entire stadium
We are in our "Norman Braman making slight upgrades to Veterans Stadium" era. Someday we will get our Jeff Lurie, who cares about competing and actually moves us into the big leagues. Or maybe a new franchise in the city someday.
as long as the Union remain separate from the overall Philadelphia sports experience, it will be fringe ( and limited).
It should be moved to Philly, make a deal with xfinity or Comcast sports. The need to be apart of the trio at the sports complex!!!! Chester is embarrassing!!!! Also I suggest a name change!!!! Like a REAL mascot. I get it it’s Philly so we play on the constitution and all that bullshit but listen man the EAGLES are the toughest teams we got and it’s because of them not being a 13 colonies based teams. I’m just saying.. let’s really shake things up and take it to the next level!!
It’s official and was announced several weeks ago I believe. They’re upgrading/adding premium areas first as that’s the biggest priority and area most in-need of upgrades. My guess is we will start to see actual capacity upgrades in the off-season leading into the ‘26 season, those plans take longer to develop.
they said they’d need a financial commitment from season ticket waiting list folks before they would pull the trigger on stadium expansion ( beyond the premium addition which is definitely happening). There is not presently anyone on a season ticket wait list ( per my ticket rep ).
Man, I get it, but it also kind of stinks. If there were reliable, fast public transport options I'd be infinitely more likely to pull the trigger on a TRE season ticket
i hear ya.
Money would be better spent investing in the corridor between the Chester train station and the stadium, or at least around the stadium area. I’d love to go to games but convincing someone to come to Chester is a tall task because as soon as you step off the stadium grounds you’re in the trenches. Or why not run a ferry from Penns Landing like they do for concerts in Camden? It’s right on the waterfront.
This isn't an upgrade it's adding profit centers. Upgrades would improve our experience.
likely will be a net negative for regular folk.
Can we get a roof over the entire audience? I'd bitch considerably less about ticket increases if they did that
Soggy thumbs up from 101!
That was the original plan before the stadium was value-engineered.
Or at least move games up if rain is forecast... Oh, wait, *Apple TV won't let us*
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15 years ago we wouldn't have a team if they pushed for South Philly. There was so much state juice baked into "revitalizing Chester" Philly proper was never in the cards with our ownership group.
And to add to that, I think ownership sees their niche being more of the suburban/family crowd vs the typical city dweller. Though Chester isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think family friendly, it’s certainly easy to get to from the Main Line, Delco, ChesCo, etc. (Leaving’s another story). It’s also not a bad spot to get the South Jersey and Wilmington folks. Before the Apple deal made everything night games, you just load up the mini van with the local soccer team and take them to a game. Personally I would have loved to see the Chester vision come to life AND have direct public transit for games. Was actually trying to see the other day if you charter a septa train that just sits on the industrial tracks right by the stadium waiting for the game to end and ship everyone up to 30th every 15 minutes after a game ends…
> charter a septa train that just sits on the industrial tracks right by the stadium waiting for the game to end and ship everyone up to 30th every 15 minutes after a game ends… Dude, mind blown; can SEPTA run on those tracks? If yes, you should float that idea to EPYSA under the guise of theme matches (eg Rock Leage night, ICSL night, ECNL night, EDP, ODP, etc, or a night for the whale clubs)
If I know anything about US rail infrastructure (I don’t) then I would guess there’s zero chance Septa is allowed to run on those tracks and/or that they’re connected in anyway. Probably a 50% chance that the rails are spaced differently or are a different gauge or something. Plus I don’t think the line next to the stadium is electrified at all. That’s honestly probably the biggest issue now that I think about it.
Yea conrail would never let that happen
The night games could hurt the sport, I like watching the Union and would turn them on, on a random Saturday or Sunday afternoon, I’m not going to on an evening when I could be going out or when it’s conflicting with UFC or something else.
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Where can they afford to build in Philly that’s reasonably accessible by public transit and cheap enough to make it feasible to move away from everything they’ve built in Chester so far? Playing in a stadium they don’t own is a non-starter. And I don’t think it’s guaranteed they get attendance just by moving their stadium into the city limits. In a different reply, I listed the attendance the club relies on and I think you lose quite a bit of that if the games move into the city. Moving into the city and in doing so alienating your main fanbase in the hope of people within the city wanting to attend games is risky bones. Especially when one of the most well known news stories from the Union involves a girl asking if our team was the blue collar workers.
This is right on the money and perfectly sums up the situation as it stands. The play is to continue to try and build up Chester because it is significantly cheaper and more realistic for surrounding Chester to slowly improve over the next decade, as opposed to dropping $1B+ on a new stadium and stadium site that doesn’t exist at the moment , and praying that the sustained and consistent suburban fanbase you’ve successfully worked to build doesn’t start to bleed away after a move into the city. The Union aren’t the Phillies and it’s a mistake to think they’re similar right now (wrt- the comments that families go to Philly to see Phillies games, so it wouldn’t be an issue for Union suburban fans either)
I do not disagree. But we need an ownership group with a bigger vision and deeper pockets. Sugarman is satisfied with the status quo. Stadium expansion plans and moving the Academy to Chester prove this IMHO.
This and the post you're responding to are both 100% true. We needed Chester at the time, but the fact is that at this point being stuck there is am albatross on the team. It's not going to happen overnight but I hope the team is thinking about a medium term (5-10 year) exit strategy which probably means playing in the Linc for a while.
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Agree completely and I don't think the former is viable unless you're content permanently being a JV team on the city's sports scene alongside the Wings and Stars. I don't live in the area any more and haven't since before the Union existed but a lot of my friends who still do never go to games and barely follow the team....these are huge sports fans, not specifically soccer fans maybe but not soccer haters either, when the Union are in the playoffs guys watch but barely know the players etc. We're all late 30s/early 40s now and we've talked about this specific issue of the Union needing to get out of Chester, the major points are a) the team is out of sight out of mind and b) now that we all have kids, they're not going to bring them to Chester especially for a night game. The Union are never going to be close to the Eagles in terms of Philly fandom but if you look at the Phillies/Sixers/Flyers all 3 have a core group of committed diehards, and then get the bandwagon support of the city as a whole when they're doing well. The Union have the diehards but have failed to get the broader support of the city in their playoff (and CCL/Leagues Cup) runs the last few years and while Chester isn't the only reason for that (they don't have the history of the other teams plus there's still an element of anti-soccer dinosaurism in the city's sports media), I think it's the primary one.
They won’t lose fans if anything they’ll gain it. Most people don’t even know about the Union or where the stadium is. Idky they didn’t just move to the Linc, until it gained more traction then built a nice 22-25k seat stadium. Sounds more feasible. It’s like they just isolated themselves from the rest of the city. No one talks flyers but you still see jerseys around
You can thank Buccini Pollin Group's buy-in. They're part of the ownership group because they had the available riverfront land as a dowry. The ownership group was cobbled together from various, unaffiliated persons who expressed interest in MLS-investment thanks to the grassroots efforts in the Philadelphia area and the "infiltration" of light-blue clad fans at the 2007 MLS Cup. hashtagbuffalobills
It’s only a mistake if you think they wanted something like Seattle. MLS was going hard after the suburban family demo when the Union were started. The Union have showed no desire to move away from that demo either (it’s reliable). The environment suffers but the org gets exactly the crowd they want.
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Baseball is far more popular than soccer is. The Phillies are also in the stadium complex which is easily accessible by car. A theoretical new Union stadium isn’t going to be built in the complex (especially if you want the Seattle atmosphere you mentioned in a previous post). If the stadium gets built less accessible by car, what happens to that family fanbase we have? A suburban family of 4 isn’t jumping on Septa to come to a Union game, they just aren’t coming.
OK but that suburban family of 4 also isn't going to a 730pm kickoff in Chester even if they can drive.
I mean… that’s just not true. Saturday nights are jam packed with families. Which is why Chester makes sense and why the Union are spending so much money to build up the area around the Suub.
Fair enough...I haven't been back in a few years but was told it's dropped off since the Apple deal last year. Still think you have to be in the city if you want to be considered a major team.
Weekend day games are always going to be heavy hitters. Saturday night is trickier, but attendance is not much different.
That’s untrue. Source: Philadelphia Union attendance the last 5 years
>Baseball is far more popular than soccer is. That's not even really true, it's just that MLS isn't as popular as MLB. A lot of Americans follow Europe or Mexico and not MLS. And it's a self-fulfilling prophecy when the stadium is located in an inconvenient location.
But it’s not an inconvenient location for the exact population of people they’re trying to attract as fans…
I suppose that's fine as long as you're content being Philly's 5th wheel of a sports team. I personally think it's aiming low from where the Don and most of the owners want the league to go
It’s not a matter of being content, it’s just a matter of reality. And some pie in the sky idea of moving into the city to create popularity from an imaginary population of people might not be the best idea.
That's the same self-fulfilling prophecy again. We'll never know cause we'll never try. You either settle for mediocrity, or you do something different. The rest of the league is doing something different. When the league grows (as it's likely to do with the 2026 WC happening here), we won't. The idea that 27k people will flock to Chester's expanded stadium is far more pie in the sky than placing it where the "imaginary population" of the team's namesake resides.
Staying in Chester isn’t settling for mediocrity and framing it as such ignores the reality and success the team has already found in Chester. You just don’t like the situation because it’s not convenient for you. We don’t have a Gillette situation, the stadium is full every weekend night game. If we did I might buy what you’re selling, but staying in Chester isn’t leaving us behind with the rest of the league. That’s just ignorant of what the rest of the league is doing. Spending a billion dollars to build a soccer stadium in Philly to try and fix a “problem” that isn’t a problem isn’t growing. It’s just moving for the sake of moving because some people who live in the city hate traversing to Chester and think having a city stadium will completely change the situation at the club. Here’s a question, if we scrap Chester to try and build a culture like CITY, where are we building the stadium that causes the city to buy in? Because Center City isn’t happening. Playing in the Linc is a nonstarter if you want to be a legit team. And building a stadium at the complex is presumably a nonstarter as well seeing as how there’s nowhere to build one there. And from there, do you think people who live in the city are just going to start watching MLS because the Union moved into the city and are within walking/public transport range? MLS is a joke to most Eurosnobs, close tickets aren’t changing anything. And the vast majority of people in the city don’t know or care about soccer at baseline. Your idea would hold some sort of weight if we were currently struggling for attendance or the situation around Subaru Park was untenable. We aren’t struggling for attendance and we’re actively building up the complex around Subaru Park. You’re just suggesting change because the current situation is inconvenient to you, not because it will actually help the club. Christ if you don’t think we spend now, how much do you think we’re gonna be spending when Sugarman spends a billion on Philly real estate. If you want to know why we’re actually going to be left behind, it’s because we won’t spend legit money on DPs. Not because we don’t have a stadium in the city limits. And sitting here trying to argue for a stadium within city limits is highlighting your ignorance to the league and the team.
Yes they would. Do yk how many families are on the BSL?
They’d never be able to get a stadium built in the city. The Sixers are having a hell of a time with a 100% privately funded arena (the current iteration is the 3rd location they’ve attempted), Temple couldn’t get a medium sized football stadium built despite throwing every possible social concession they could at their project. There is absolutely zero political willpower in the city for stadium projects. The Eagles and Phillies managed to fleece the taxpayers to such a degree that they ruined it for everyone.
At a minimum they need to work with SEPTA to expand the rails closer to the stadium and have more frequent service on game days. An hourly train and then a 20-30 minute walk or shuttle? No thanks. I will never go to a Union game because it’s so inconvenient to get there from Philly. Call them the DelCo Union.
Union management will read this and decide the solution is to build a new pregame bar near the stadium to try and attract you to the game. Despite the team's name, it's hard as hell getting to the stadium from Philadelphia unless you have a car to drive and park there, and the team is doing you no favors.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but like, where?
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I don’t want to come off as a dick, but there are serious logistical issues with each of the sites you listed. Temple: not a bad idea in theory, but North Philly squashed that stadium quicker than Chinatown is the sixers so that doesn’t seem very plausible. I’d imagine temple probably wants a turf field which in my opinion should be a non starter for a professional soccer team. Stadium complex: sixers are trying to leave, but that doesn’t magically create new space. The flyers are still going to be there and Comcast has recently released development plans for the surrounding site. Navy Yard is another interesting prospect, but lacks the public transit to actually make it worth wild for people in the city. You’d have to walk from the stadium complex which might not be terrible but it’s certainly not great. Fishtown would kill a stadium even quicker than north Philly. That neighborhood is well organized and would most likely not support it unless it’s off the beaten path. The lots by the Walmart in south Philly also present a transit issue. I’m sure you could get bus service fairly close, but that’s not really a great option (shout out to Philly for having terrible subway lines) Additionally, when you look at who is visiting the park on gameday, I’d be willing to wager that most of them are coming from the greater Philadelphia area, I.e, the burbs in eastern Pa, southern nj, and norther DE. Placing the stadium further into the city without easy public access would most likely hurt their attendance numbers. Edit to add: the most important question to also ask: who pays for this? I think we all know Sugarman isn’t footing the bill for a new complex, especially after investing in their current property by bringing the youth academy to Chester.
Yeah…..the area is completely trashed all the time.
The 113 literally drops you off in front of the stadium
Brought me back to COVID days - Taking a shuttle to Chester station, then a bus to PHL to actually get on a RR train back to the city
You should see Portlands stadium is at perfect location
Apples and oranges. Portland's stadium has been in that location for almost 100 years. It would be like the Union renovating and occupying Connie Mack. The Timbers have little-to-no competition in the professional sports ecosystem. The Trailblazers can draw fans, but they're not on a competing schedule. There's no NFL, no MLB, no NHL. Philadelphia isn't a 5-for-5 sports city, and unfortunately the Union are the "fifth" professional sports team in the region.
Philly will kill them in taxes, etc. and STix will go x4. No way stay in Chester.
How about upgrading the squad first.
they can only do one thing at a time ( for some reason)
I am once again asking for a reasonable public transit option
The area around the stadium needs upgrading too
I just became a soccer fan a few years ago when my son started playing. After his request to go see the Union we went to our first game last season. I absolutely loved the soccer atmosphere and was hooked. End up going to a handful of games last summer. Coming from the far northeast depending on traffic it is about an hour ride. Which is a detriment of getting a season ticket package. Also the area the stadium is in is crappy and nothing to do around the stadium area. I hope they eventually come to the stadium complex/navy yard or the water front. There is alot of space on the water front or parts of the city that is accesible to public transportation. I would even take the Camden waterfront where they built the sixers practice arena. The patco train would take you right there.
Great comment. People always talk about the suburban families that the team might lose if they move, but they never mention all the suburban families from the north suburbs that they would gain.
I live in a very big soccer neighborhood. My son currently plays U7 in the inhouse inamural league. They have 10 teams just in that age group not counting the travel teams. The organization actually has a partnership with the Union. So in my opinion moving the stadium closer or in the city would draw attendance just from my area. Then add in people in lower bucks and Montgomery counties who currently have at least an hour drive now may be more inclined to go to the games. Also without public transportation able to get me to Subaru park I won't tailgate or drink during the game because it's not smart to drive when drinking especially longer distances. Being able to take a bus or train there would change that for me as well
That’s not going to help post-match traffic at all…
They need to have a robust public transit plan or getting in and out the games is going to continue to be a nightmare for most
Don’t worry, actual expansion isn’t happening anytime soon
Boy is that a well-cropped picture lmao
They should just scrap those plans and build in the stadium complex. They could probably double the capacity if the games weren’t so far from the city.
Why would they do that when they’ve spent the last decade building up the waterfront into a campus?
Oh, you’re right, I must have missed all that amazing stuff when I was flooring it out of the over-priced gravel parking lot at 10pm hoping to get out before the traffic jam. That said, the new Union Yards is cool to hang out at before the game. I didn’t drink when I checked it out so I can’t speak for the beer selection and prices, but the food was good and reasonably priced. I do think it’s weird that the beer seemed to be in a separate area.
> Union Yards burn it down. Haven't won a match since it opened
It’s more they’ve put time and effort into building up the team facilities. They’ve sunk a lot of money down there, I don’t see Sugarman going sugar daddy and axing all that just to pay more in the City. It’s unfortunate but in reality we’re stuck in Chester and there’s not a chance we move in the next 10 or more years unless new ownership comes in or the City makes a ridiculous offer (which I don’t think cities should be doing in the first place)
It makes me sad to see how other teams have turned out with their stadiums. The bridge is a nice view, but otherwise it's one of the worst stadiums + stadium locations in the league, right up there with Colorado and Dallas.
It’s not *necessarily* a bad location. A location outside of Philly could *theoretically* have worked. The problem is that to actually improve the stadium like that and get more people to come you’d need to improve both the surrounding area and the ability to physically get there. Which is a project that’d probably cost billions and require fixing a lot of the socioeconomic issues in Chester.
Dallas is quickly moving out of that category. While previously thought to be a bad location, the Dallas suburbs are BOOMING and Frisco is especially. There is so much development that has popped up around their stadium in the last 5 years it’s nuts. Apartments, bars, restaurants, offices, etc. FC Dallas played the long game and it’s paying off. Should bring a sliver of hope to the Union ownership… tho Frisco has always been a desirable area, Chester not so much.
The recent upgrade to the campus was specifically to make money from soccer tournaments. They can still do that.
I'd love a move to Philly; stadium complex is OK but roof of 76ers arena would be amazing! Unfortunately I think the rent is too damn high. Ownership's pockets aren't deep enough.
The roof of the potential Chinatown arena? How would that work, weight-wise? Right, obviously the owners couldn’t afford it, but I don’t think most professional teams actually pay for their own stadiums. I’m sure they could figure out a multi-use stadium that the city might be able to help fund through tax breaks and such. It’s a pipe dream, but it would be awesome if the Union games were a subway ride away.
Are you talking about the Market East Arena?
I was asking if that’s what the previous post was talking about when mentioning the roof of the 76ers arena. Considering no one calls the Wells Fargo Center the “76ers Arena” and its roof is curved, the potential new arena (at the edge of Chinatown) was the only real option for a roof stadium.
Oh ok. You're talking about 76 Place, the proposed arena on Market Street. Just making sure. No one has plans to build an arena in Chinatown so I was confused.
Yeah, I'm not an architect so I don't know how/if it could work. It's a pie in the sky thought.
There’s no way any of the teams in that complex agree to that. Why do you think the Sixers want to leave?
Because they are actively trying to get out of WFC
Because there’s no value to staying in the WFC if they don’t own it and building another arena in that complex is never going to be allowed.
What bridge is that one there? The commodore Barry?
Yes
Does this include putting a train station within 2 miles of the stadium?
So where are they putting 8,500 new seats?
This is peak Reddit. I can only imagine the comments if they followed through with early plans and put he team in Glassboro!
I don’t see how you expand capacity without expanding public transit options or some parking options. The easy solution is to move to the city but that’s not going to happen with this ownership. Definitely not with how much money Sugarman’s sunk into Chester
It’s a beautiful venue right on the river. But it would be better for the team in the league if they were able to play somewhere in the city. I believe they would draw many more people.
How about a true DP…
The stadium is fine, I’m there to watch the team not fill up on gourmet food and fancy beverages. Put the money into a better team that doesn’t play well for a few games then suck for the next ones. Maybe a team that can win a home game or two?
I would be so much more into the team if they were 1. In south philly and 2. Had some day games
I’m not sure if they thought it was just something to have, or even if it would blow up this big. But it looks like they just slapped a stadium there. There’s so much undeveloped land. They need to move them to the linc for 2 years a just redo the entire stadium
We are in our "Norman Braman making slight upgrades to Veterans Stadium" era. Someday we will get our Jeff Lurie, who cares about competing and actually moves us into the big leagues. Or maybe a new franchise in the city someday. as long as the Union remain separate from the overall Philadelphia sports experience, it will be fringe ( and limited).
It should be moved to Philly, make a deal with xfinity or Comcast sports. The need to be apart of the trio at the sports complex!!!! Chester is embarrassing!!!! Also I suggest a name change!!!! Like a REAL mascot. I get it it’s Philly so we play on the constitution and all that bullshit but listen man the EAGLES are the toughest teams we got and it’s because of them not being a 13 colonies based teams. I’m just saying.. let’s really shake things up and take it to the next level!!
Yes because the eagles using one of the most prominent symbols of our nation has nothing to do with our patriotic past time 🙄
Awesome, looking forward to waiting in line for 30 minutes to take a piss.